The present invention relates to a new and improved counting and indicating system having notable utility in registers of the type employed in fuel dispensing apparatus for registering the volume and cost amounts of fuel delivered and, for example, utility in the factory modification and/or field or factory conversion of existing fuel pump registers of the type shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,814,444 of Harvey N. Bliss dated Nov. 26, 1957 and entitled "Register".
The conventional mechanical fuel pump register of the type shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,814,444 has upper and lower resettable cost and volume counters on each of two opposite sides of the register for registering the cost and volume amounts of the fuel delivered. The register is conventionally employed with a mechanical variator (for example, of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,413,867 of Richard B. Hamlin dated Dec. 3, 1968 and entitled "Variator") operable for establishing and posting the desired unit volume price of fuel. The variator is connected for being driven by a fuel meter and for driving the volume and cost counters of the register for registering the volume amount of fuel delivered (e.g., in gallons) and the cost amount of fuel delivered in accordance with the volume amount of fuel delivered and the established unit volume price.
The mechanical cost counter drive train is rotated at a rate proportional to the established unit volume price and the volumetric rate of delivery and, therefore, for any given maximum volumetric rate of delivery, its maximum rate of rotation increases proportionally with the unit volume price of gasoline. Since the price of gasoline is escalating and is likely to continue to escalate, the cost counter drive train is and will continue to be rotated at correspondingly increasing rates. The resulting higher rotational speed decreases the life and increases the operating noise of the mechanical cost counter and its drive train. The higher rotational speed also increases the required drive torque transmitted from the meter through the variator to the cost counters and therefore decreases the useful life of the variator and the accuracy of the meter.
It is therefore a principal aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved counting and indicating system for a conventional fuel pump register for converting and/or modifying the register for increasing the useful life of the fuel pump register and its associated meter and variator.
It is another aim of the present invention to provide new and improved register conversion means of the type described which permits conversion of existing mechanical register with minimum inconvenience and downtime.
It is another aim of the present invention to provide a modified fuel pump register employing a new and improved cost counter providing a visual readout which may be the same as or similar to the visual readout of existing fuel pump registers and whereby its appearance to the customer may be made to the same or similar.
It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved gasoline pump register having an improved resettable cost counter.
It is another aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved register conversion kit useful for modifying the cost and/or volume section registers of the type described in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 2,814,444.
It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved fuel pump register having an expanded cost and/or volume readout and yet which is substantially the same size as existing fuel pump registers and such that improved register can be readily substituted for and existing register and without further modification of the fuel pump.
It is another aim of the present invention to provide in a counting and indicating system of the type employing one or more indicating wheels, a new and improved wheel operating system for positioning each wheel.
It is a still further aim of the present invention to provide a counting and indicating system of the type having an electronic storage register for storing a count and one or more mechanical digital indicators for displaying the stored count, a new and improved indicator positioning means for positioning each digital indicator in accordance with the corresponding digit count of electronic storage register.
It is another aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved single wheel indicator module usable alone or in a bank thereof as a numeral display or the like.
Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.